The basic patent relied upon in the examination of our earlier application Ser. No. 597,541 was the Thomason U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,903. A relationship between this patent and the general subject matter of the instant application is acknowledged. Nevertheless, this patent fails to show many of the features to which the present application is directed. Thus, for example, this patent does not disclose a corrugated envelope through which heatable fluid passes when travelling between input tubes and output tubes. The patent, moreover, fails to disclose any of the features relating thereto such as, for example, a plastic coating on such corrugated envelope.
A second patent cited against our earlier application is the Gaydos U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,574. This patent also fails to disclose a corrugated envelope and other related features. Even if this patent were to be considered applicable in a structural sense, it deals with sand which is different from concrete. Sand is loose and not capable of providing sufficient contact between particles as to result in the transfer of heat provided by concrete. The utilization of sand in which to pack tubing is in no sense a disclosure of concrete and particularly so when one considers that the Applicants' use of concrete in the present application is in combination with heat transferring mesh cooperating with tubes to which heat is transferred both directly and indirectly. As a consequence, the Gaydos patent is in no sense anticipatory.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,742 has also been previously cited. In column 6 of this patent, it is stated that a sandwich may be made of corrugated aluminum plate and flat aluminum plate together defining a plurality of passages through which heat transfer fluid is circulated. This patent was relied on to show the use of a coating; however, the patent merely sets forth that the exposed face of a plate may be coated with a selective coating which reduces infrared emission from the collector surface. No mention is made of utilizing a coating directly on a corrugated envelope of a form as in the present application and it is quite difficult to envisage specifically what is meant by the exposed face of a plate in the Rush patent. In fact, one side of the passages identified by Rush appears to rest upon an insulated base which is wholly unlike the structure envisaged in the present application.
T. B. Modine in U.S. Pat. No. 2,274,492 reveals a heating device with a substantially flat heat transfer element comprising a pair of substantially parallel inlet and outlet pipes and a plurality of smaller cross-tubes connecting these pipes for the passage of fluid to be heated from the inlet pipe to the outlet pipe. In this arrangement a plurality of fins extend between and are rigidly secured to the cross-tubes. These fins are substantially parallel with the common axial plane of the pipes. A container is provided which encloses the aforesaid element consisting of a bottom, a glass top and side and end members. A layer of heat insulating material is positioned between the heat transfer element and the above-noted bottom.
O. H. Mohr in U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,821 has as an object the improving and simplifying of the construction and operation of solar heaters. A heater is provided which consists of a series of spaced upwardly inclined tubes connected at their upper and lower ends by headers, the tubes and headers being made of a metal such as copper or the like having a high coefficient of heat conductivity and being painted or colored black to absorb the greatest amount of heat possible when exposed to radiation. Mohr provides a housing or box for the receiving and support of the heating tubes and headers, the box being insulated to retain heat and being covered with two or more layers of glass with an intermediate dead air space to reduce conduction losses to a minimum. There is further provided an arrangement of tubes and headers which not only function as a solar heater but also as a hot-water storage reservoir. An auxiliary heater is employed for heating and circulating water in the solar heater when necessary. A winding is provided within the housing whereby both direct and reflected radiant energy is utilized in between the tubes and headers.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 2,208,789, B. H. Cally provides for a construction of a solar heating unit in such a manner that smaller heating tubes are used than were previously employed and novelty is provided in joining the tubes with header pipes of a larger diameter in such a manner that the speed of circulation may be any predetermined speed deemed necessary for proper heating of the water.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,942, W. F. Kyryluk provides a solar heater transducer including a transducer element having an outer member of a material transparent to solar radiation energy rays in combination with an enclosure with a space defined in between an inner side of the transducer and a wall of the enclosure, with a fluid heated by the transducer positioned in the enclosure.
G. Meckler in U. S. Pat. No. 3,369,540 bases his invention upon the discovery of apparatus for preventing or minimizing the thermal load normally imposed on the air conditioning system of a building due to external natural light sources. In accordance with his invention, Meckler provides a multisheet light transmitting structure which is capable of absorbing a substantial amount of solar energy which it would otherwise pass therethrough and which is capable of dissipating this energy while minimizing the increased heat load in the building.
F. M. Kiser in U.S. Pat. No. 2,167,576 provides a cover or hood formed of a material adapted to concentrate the sun's rays upon a water heating tank. The size and shape of the hood is determined by the hot water requirements and the hood preferably comprises upwardly inclined glass side walls, glass end walls and a glass top wall, the walls being connected together and reinforced.
The Johnston U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,006 disclosed a solar heater in which the front wall has a coating of heat absorbic substance thereon, such as for example, black paint. A fibrous mat is provided on the outside of the coating and is adhered thereto by applying the mat directly onto the paint. The insulating mat is made of a highly transparent, non-reflective substance such as an expanded and impregnated glass fiber of minimum density. This allegedly permits the sun's rays to pass therethrough in order to reach the black coating at which the heat from the sun's rays is surrendered to the metal wall without reflection. The mat holds the heat there until the highly conductive metal wall can have the heat conducted therefrom by a fluid in the compartment associated with the metal wall. Insulation is employed which helps to hold the heat in the compartment whereby the fluid in the compartment can be drawn therefrom or can be continuously circulated therethrough and used for any purpose.
While the above patents refer generally to solar heating and solar heating systems and panels and while these patents furthermore may use some individual features which we also employ in the present invention, they do not, it is believed, achieve the effectiveness of solar heat recovery which is achieved in accordance with the instant invention and consequently are not anticipatory thereof.